Dear Readers,
Life happened. We all grew up and started doing our own thing. Things changed, we moved, we got married, we started new careers, we traveled the world -- things changed. Personally, I learned how to cook because I was in a large city (Los Angeles) without family and without enough money to dine at fine (or otherwise) establishments on a consistent basis. Baking, however, has always been a goal and a challenge. The thing is, I have a mean sweet tooth, so I'll eat dessert any day. And let's face it, many items that are baked are dessert. Yum. So what better way to satisfy the sweet tooth and the need to conquer the world of baking than by...well, baking?
Life, indeed, happened. And the funny thing about life is that I saw this blog and thought about the amazing things we were doing, once upon a time -- before life happened. I would love to commit some time to revive things here and bring the old days back. It's a shot in the dark, I guess. I don't really know if anyone will read this or if anyone will respond. But if we can bring this back, it might add some value to our lives.
Life happened, and we responded. Or did we? Is it a call in an empty cave or is it the revival of something great? Can we prove to ourselves that just because life happened, we can still bake? I sincerely hope we can bring this back!
Until next time, dear readers...
Khabab
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
June!
I started out wanting to post a cheesecake recipe for my recipe this month, but realized the awful truth: There's no way I have the time to make a cheesecake right now, and I'm sure you're all facing the same predicament! So instead, I'm posting a drop cookie recipe that should be pretty easy to make. Plus it combines my two favorite tastes - white chocolate and cherries! One tip is to make sure you use the parchment paper and not a non-stick pan. I don't know for sure if it's only for the gluten-free version, but supposedly the cookies will brown too quickly or burn without the paper.
White Chocolate & Cherry Drop Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour (GF blend)
1 tsp xanthan gum (probably not necessary in nonGF versions)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3.5 oz. white chocolate bar chopped in 1/4 in. chunks
1/4 cup dried cherries
1) Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2) Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar with mixer on low until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum and beat until just blended. (Note to non-GF people: You may not need all the flour, so add that in bit by bit so it doesn't get too doughy) Stir in white chocolate chunks and cherries.
3) Using a wet tablespoon, drop balls of dough at least 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Spray bottom of drinking glass with cooking spray and flatten cookies. Place sheets on middle rack.
4) Bake 12 to 15 minutes. My book suggests rotating sheets between upper and lower middle racks, but you might just be fine if it's exactly in the middle (but I don't know for sure!) Cool cookies 2-3 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store, tightly covered, for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to a month.
Enjoy the start of the summer, people! :)
White Chocolate & Cherry Drop Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour (GF blend)
1 tsp xanthan gum (probably not necessary in nonGF versions)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3.5 oz. white chocolate bar chopped in 1/4 in. chunks
1/4 cup dried cherries
1) Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2) Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar with mixer on low until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum and beat until just blended. (Note to non-GF people: You may not need all the flour, so add that in bit by bit so it doesn't get too doughy) Stir in white chocolate chunks and cherries.
3) Using a wet tablespoon, drop balls of dough at least 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Spray bottom of drinking glass with cooking spray and flatten cookies. Place sheets on middle rack.
4) Bake 12 to 15 minutes. My book suggests rotating sheets between upper and lower middle racks, but you might just be fine if it's exactly in the middle (but I don't know for sure!) Cool cookies 2-3 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store, tightly covered, for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to a month.
Enjoy the start of the summer, people! :)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
For the record, Steve and I apologize for falling so behind on our cooking. In our defense, I broke my foot about a month ago and thus managed to make the world a more complicated place with various surgery and recovery activities. The good news is I'm doing much better and life is starting to go somewhat back to normal! The bad news is I can't really cook on my own or provide lots of help in the kitchen.
So to get us back on the cooking bandwagon, we made gluten-free banana and blueberry yogurt muffins this morning for breakfast. They are so very light and airy though that they earned a new name once the batter was made: Fluffins! We used a basic muffin recipe in my gluten-free cookbook and modified it to include some blueberry yogurt and one banana that was floating around my kitchen. The results were quite tasty!!
To balance out the wet ingredients with the yogurt addition, I put slightly less of some ingredients. These are marked with a > symbol.
GF Fluffins (makes 12 fluffins)
Wet Ingredients
2 large eggs
> 3/4 cup milk
> 1/2 cup canola oil
1 single-serving container blueberry yogurt
1 banana, chopped (or smooshed I guess)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
> 3/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1) Preheat oven to 375 and grease a muffin tin.
2) Beat eggs with an electric mixer on low speed until yellow and frothy, about 30 seconds. Add all other wet ingredients and mix on low until well blended.
3) Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk until combined.
4) Gradually beat dry ingredients into wet ingredients mixture until batter is smooth.
5) Bake on middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes.
Fluffin batter!
Close-up to show the banana chunks.
I was slightly concerned with the brown color when Steve initially brought them out of the oven, but as you can see the insides are still fluffy and light as ever!
The taste of bananas and blueberries was well-balanced, and I would totally make this again. Not sure how to work the recipe for the glutenous folk, except maybe to just try about 1 3/4 cup of regular flour with no xanthan gum. Don't know if would turn out as fluffy, though! Also, Steve thinks we didn't need as much sugar because of the added ingredients.
So to get us back on the cooking bandwagon, we made gluten-free banana and blueberry yogurt muffins this morning for breakfast. They are so very light and airy though that they earned a new name once the batter was made: Fluffins! We used a basic muffin recipe in my gluten-free cookbook and modified it to include some blueberry yogurt and one banana that was floating around my kitchen. The results were quite tasty!!
To balance out the wet ingredients with the yogurt addition, I put slightly less of some ingredients. These are marked with a > symbol.
GF Fluffins (makes 12 fluffins)
Wet Ingredients
2 large eggs
> 3/4 cup milk
> 1/2 cup canola oil
1 single-serving container blueberry yogurt
1 banana, chopped (or smooshed I guess)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
> 3/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1) Preheat oven to 375 and grease a muffin tin.
2) Beat eggs with an electric mixer on low speed until yellow and frothy, about 30 seconds. Add all other wet ingredients and mix on low until well blended.
3) Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk until combined.
4) Gradually beat dry ingredients into wet ingredients mixture until batter is smooth.
5) Bake on middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes.
Fluffin batter!
Close-up to show the banana chunks.
I was slightly concerned with the brown color when Steve initially brought them out of the oven, but as you can see the insides are still fluffy and light as ever!
The taste of bananas and blueberries was well-balanced, and I would totally make this again. Not sure how to work the recipe for the glutenous folk, except maybe to just try about 1 3/4 cup of regular flour with no xanthan gum. Don't know if would turn out as fluffy, though! Also, Steve thinks we didn't need as much sugar because of the added ingredients.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Gail's Soda Bread Muffins
I was pleasantly surprised at how these muffins turned out. For Irish Soda Bread, they turned out pretty moist, which can probably be attributed to the sour cream (you could also use buttermilk or yogurt). I used currants instead of raisins, because even though I like both, I think currants are more authentic. Granted, this isn't an especially authentic recipe! I also didn't add any caraway seeds, mainly due to the fact that I didn't have any and forgot to look for them at the grocery store. Oh, and the flour - King Arthur makes a white whole wheat flour (the recipe IS from their website), but it was not to be found at Shaw's. So I substituted for regular whole wheat flour and actually found that to be rather nice; the muffins were still light from the all-purpose flour, but had a more complex taste and texture from the whole wheat. (For the record, I later found KA's white whole wheat flour at Trader Joe's. It comes in a smaller bag... 2 lb, I think?) Also, the muffins sort of stuck to the muffin papers, but it wasn't too bad. Overall, very tasty and a keeper!
A closer look...
Last weekend, I had another fun adventure in baking - I took a brioche class offered by a woman in Belmont. For those not familiar, I learned that brioche is a type of bread that - unlike many yeast breads - uses both eggs and ridiculous amounts of butter. So it goes without saying that this is a very tasty food. During the class, we used the dough to make a loaf, muffin-sized "petit brioche à tête," an AMAZING egg and veggie torte, and quite possibly the best cinnamon rolls I've ever consumed. At the end of the afternoon, everyone was given a piece of dough to use at home. Unfortunately, everything we made in the class was inhaled by Dave as soon as I got home, so I wasn't able to take pictures of those items. But here is the mini-loaf I made from some of the take-home dough the next day.
If anyone is interested in the dough recipe, let me know!
A closer look...
Last weekend, I had another fun adventure in baking - I took a brioche class offered by a woman in Belmont. For those not familiar, I learned that brioche is a type of bread that - unlike many yeast breads - uses both eggs and ridiculous amounts of butter. So it goes without saying that this is a very tasty food. During the class, we used the dough to make a loaf, muffin-sized "petit brioche à tête," an AMAZING egg and veggie torte, and quite possibly the best cinnamon rolls I've ever consumed. At the end of the afternoon, everyone was given a piece of dough to use at home. Unfortunately, everything we made in the class was inhaled by Dave as soon as I got home, so I wasn't able to take pictures of those items. But here is the mini-loaf I made from some of the take-home dough the next day.
If anyone is interested in the dough recipe, let me know!
Monday, March 23, 2009
My Oven's a Lemon
Things have been so busy. I put on my to-do list for the weekend "Make Little Baker Recipes" so I gathered the ingredients for the lemon squares and got off to a flying start... making the crust was easy - I popped it in the oven once the pre-heat light went off and...
and then nothing happened. I mean, it didn't bake, it didn't brown, it just sat there. The oven wasn't warm enough so I turned it up... still nothing. I baked the crust for almost an hour on "375" which I'd guess was closer to 200 degrees.
So... I owe the landlord a call so I can get back up and running...
sigh.
and then nothing happened. I mean, it didn't bake, it didn't brown, it just sat there. The oven wasn't warm enough so I turned it up... still nothing. I baked the crust for almost an hour on "375" which I'd guess was closer to 200 degrees.
So... I owe the landlord a call so I can get back up and running...
sigh.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
March Recipes
I really liked Megan's idea for the January post in offering a choice of three recipes, and since I had a hard time choosing between two for the March challenge, I thought I'd do the same. Even though we're expecting a foot of snow over the next twenty-four hours, I'm already in a spring state of mind. Bring on the crocuses, thunderstorms, and Patriots Day (my only spring holiday from work!).
With that in mind, I'm proposing two recipes with a distinctly spring slant - both borrowed from the King Arthur website, which has a lot of other good seasonal recipe ideas. Anyhow, the first is for Irish Soda Bread Muffins, in honor of the upcoming St. Patty's Day. I've always loved Irish soda bread, but who wouldn't agree that muffins are easier to eat?
The second recipe is for Hot Cross Buns, an Easter favorite for many. I'm pretty sure there is some symbolism here (with the cross of icing and all), but regardless, these make for a very yummy breakfast item. They also offer an opportunity to work with yeast, which I freely admit I have yet to master.
Without further ado, the recipes:
Irish Soda Bread Muffins
* 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
* 3/4 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1 1/2 cups currants (first choice) or raisins
* 1/2 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
* 6 tablespoons butter, melted; or 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* sparkling white sugar, for topping
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan; or line with papers, and grease the papers.
2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, currants or raisins, and caraway seeds.
3) In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).
4) Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won't take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.
5) Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar, if desired.
6) Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don't get soggy. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.
Hot Cross Buns
Buns
* 1/4 cup apple juice or rum
* 1/2 cup mixed dried fruit
* 1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
* 1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
* 3 large eggs, 1 separated
* 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
* 2 teaspoons instant yeast
* 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 4 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Topping
* 1 large egg white, reserved from above
* 1 tablespoon milk
Icing
* 1 cup + 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* pinch of salt
* 4 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing
Directions
1) Lightly grease a 10" square pan or 9" x 13" pan.
2) Mix the rum or apple juice with the dried fruit and raisins, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave briefly, just till the fruit and liquid are very warm, and the plastic starts to "shrink wrap" itself over the top of the bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3) When the fruit is cool, mix together all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and knead, using an electric mixer or bread machine, till the dough is soft and elastic. Mix in the fruit and any liquid not absorbed.
4) Let the dough rise for 1 hour, covered. It should become puffy, though may not double in bulk.
5) Divide the dough into billiard ball-sized pieces, about 3 3/4 ounces each. A heaped muffin scoop (about 1/3 cup) makes about the right portion. You'll make 12 to 14 buns. Use your greased hands to round them into balls. Arrange them in the prepared pan.
6) Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they've puffed up and are touching one another. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.
7) Whisk together the reserved egg white and milk, and brush it over the buns.
8) Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.
9) Mix together the icing ingredients, and when the buns are completely cool, pipe it in a cross shape atop each bun.
With that in mind, I'm proposing two recipes with a distinctly spring slant - both borrowed from the King Arthur website, which has a lot of other good seasonal recipe ideas. Anyhow, the first is for Irish Soda Bread Muffins, in honor of the upcoming St. Patty's Day. I've always loved Irish soda bread, but who wouldn't agree that muffins are easier to eat?
The second recipe is for Hot Cross Buns, an Easter favorite for many. I'm pretty sure there is some symbolism here (with the cross of icing and all), but regardless, these make for a very yummy breakfast item. They also offer an opportunity to work with yeast, which I freely admit I have yet to master.
Without further ado, the recipes:
Irish Soda Bread Muffins
* 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
* 3/4 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1 1/2 cups currants (first choice) or raisins
* 1/2 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
* 6 tablespoons butter, melted; or 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* sparkling white sugar, for topping
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan; or line with papers, and grease the papers.
2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, currants or raisins, and caraway seeds.
3) In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).
4) Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won't take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.
5) Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar, if desired.
6) Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don't get soggy. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.
Hot Cross Buns
Buns
* 1/4 cup apple juice or rum
* 1/2 cup mixed dried fruit
* 1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
* 1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
* 3 large eggs, 1 separated
* 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
* 2 teaspoons instant yeast
* 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 4 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Topping
* 1 large egg white, reserved from above
* 1 tablespoon milk
Icing
* 1 cup + 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* pinch of salt
* 4 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing
Directions
1) Lightly grease a 10" square pan or 9" x 13" pan.
2) Mix the rum or apple juice with the dried fruit and raisins, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave briefly, just till the fruit and liquid are very warm, and the plastic starts to "shrink wrap" itself over the top of the bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3) When the fruit is cool, mix together all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and knead, using an electric mixer or bread machine, till the dough is soft and elastic. Mix in the fruit and any liquid not absorbed.
4) Let the dough rise for 1 hour, covered. It should become puffy, though may not double in bulk.
5) Divide the dough into billiard ball-sized pieces, about 3 3/4 ounces each. A heaped muffin scoop (about 1/3 cup) makes about the right portion. You'll make 12 to 14 buns. Use your greased hands to round them into balls. Arrange them in the prepared pan.
6) Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they've puffed up and are touching one another. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.
7) Whisk together the reserved egg white and milk, and brush it over the buns.
8) Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.
9) Mix together the icing ingredients, and when the buns are completely cool, pipe it in a cross shape atop each bun.
These lemon bars are tasty!
So in case the title of this entry didn't adequately convey my feelings toward this recipe - YUM! Honestly, I really enjoyed both making and eating the lemon bars. I think it's because I've had these kinds of bars made from a boxed mix before, and this was just exponentially better. In choosing lemons from the grocery store, I did pay extra attention to selecting fruit with a brighter and unblemished peel. I also made one modification to the recipe that I thought would be fun, and that was to substitute out half of the lemon juice for limoncello that Dave and I made a few months ago. If anything, this might have made it a tad sweeter than it would have otherwise been - it may have also brightened the color. Either way, it was very tasty. And still tart, not what I would consider overly sweet.
Originally, I'd intended to take the resulting bars into work and share them with my co-workers. In reality, they didn't last anywhere long enough to do so. It's been a week or two since I made them, but if my memory serves correctly, they were gone in two days. And this was just between Dave and me. This recipe was simple and straightforward to make. It gets two thumbs up and will definitely be added to my recipe repertoire.
In pictures, the whole baking process...
Ingredients
Zest
Mixing all that lemon-y goodness
Bon appetite
I'll also be posting the March recipe shortly. Stay tuned!
Originally, I'd intended to take the resulting bars into work and share them with my co-workers. In reality, they didn't last anywhere long enough to do so. It's been a week or two since I made them, but if my memory serves correctly, they were gone in two days. And this was just between Dave and me. This recipe was simple and straightforward to make. It gets two thumbs up and will definitely be added to my recipe repertoire.
In pictures, the whole baking process...
Ingredients
Zest
Mixing all that lemon-y goodness
Bon appetite
I'll also be posting the March recipe shortly. Stay tuned!
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